The session started again, Professor Nightingale was still assigned as a speaker, he began with, "O my brothers and sisters! Si omnia concupiscis, omnia perdas. Stultum est esse avarus." Cockatoo, who was listening, asked the Crow, "Tis one our retainer, where is he come from? America, Europe, Southwest-Asia or Greek?," the empty brained Crow, just smiled.At that moment, the professor revealed, "There has been emerged a development in the field of contemporary secular psychology, called 'Positive Psychology.' The positive influences in a person's life, is emphasized in this development, including character strengths, optimistic emotions, and constructive institutions. Both emotional and mental factors, is based on this theory.The theorists, originally has developed the human strengths, as goals for human development and clinical intervention, for example, strengths of cognition, among others, curiosity; love of learning; rationality; ingenuity; personal-emotional-social intelligence.Strengths of emotion, among them, appreciation of beauty and excellence; hope or future-mindedness; love of life.Strengths of will, in-between, courage; perseverance.Relational and civic strengths, betwixt, kindness; responsibility; humour; capacity to love and to be loved.Strengths of coherence, among others, honesty; balance; self-control; prudence.Since many of these, are the same positive personality or character traits, that are encouraged from an Islamic perspective, it can be concluded, that Islam, was the first to propose a theory of 'positive psychology.'The true believers, have a distinct personality with a particular way of thinking and relating to, the world, that is different from other people. They follow the guidance of Allah, in all areas of life, they have their own unique characteristics, and they work on developing noble and virtuous characteristics. Our beloved (ﷺ), use to say,إِنَّ خِيَارَكُمْ أَحَاسِنُكُمْ أَخْلاَقًا'The best among you, are the best in character.' [Sahih al-Bukhari]Very concerned about performing good deeds and acquiring virtues, is the nature of Muslims. Learning and teaching religious knowledge, is one of the best of the virtues, because, it enables people, to distinguish between good and evil. Kindness, mercy, truthfulness, humility, patience and justice, are some of the traits the believers strive to develop. The believers, attempt to engage in kind of virtuous behaviours, because, over time, it would become habitual and enter into their behavioural repertoire; they become part of their personality.On the contrary, the opposite of the positive characteristics, is negative character traits. Oppression, envy, greed, pride, and conceit, included in this traits.
One of the negative traits is greediness, that comes from lust, the impulse of the self to follow the paths of desire and pursuit of desire. Desire means gravitating to the earth and inclining to the lower appetites and neglecting Allah's remembrance.Greediness, can plunge humans into destruction, and one of the trigger is, excessive love of wealth. Wealth, whether in money or goods, has a alluring aspect which absorbs both heart and mind. Wealth is the mainstay of life and an immense trust. We are commanded to spend it immediately after being commanded to believe in Allah and His Messenger (ﷺ).Islam has laid down a rigorous set of laws, regulating the circulation of wealth in Muslim society and to keep the desire for wealth in check. If it had been left uncurbed, society would have been destroyed by the ferocity of unrestrained human voracity.Being moderate in seeking and acquiring wealth, being cautious about love of wealth and desire for it, the necessity of acquiring wealth only from lawful sources, the prohibition of usury, the prohibition of hoarding, the prohibition of cheating, the prohibition of tampering with weights and measures, the prohibition of theft and misappropriation, the regulation of debts, and the obligation of zakat and sadaqa as the basis of the circulation of surplus wealth in Muslim society, are some of the laws which the All-Wise Lawgiver has laid down.Wealth is verdant and sweet, because it is the mainstay of life and the basis of civilisation, society and people's comfort. It is an excellent companion and helper for the Muslim, as long as he gives those who have a right to it their due, and protects the divinely stipulated rights of others. This applies on condition that, it is not obtained through robbery or usurpation, but only by such lawful means as are defined by the rules of belief based on nobility, chastity and trustworthiness. The wealth which enters our pockets as money, and of which we spend will be a witness against us on the Day of Rising, and consequently will play a part in deciding our ultimate destination in the Next World, in addition to the part it plays in our lives in this world.Greediness, in the end, mostly misses what it aims at, and he that plunders at more than belongs to him, justly deserved to lose what he has. Observe this one apologue,"Mr Pit Bull, was a good guardian dog. He was careful about the activity around his master's house. He was uptight, when something sound to threaten his master's house, he immediately barked. All did he do, was for the sake of a large, comfortable and luxurious cage, and of course, bones.One day, Mr. Pit Bull was accompanying his master to a park. At the Park gate, there was a notice board, "For the time being, to maintain cleanliness, so that the pigeons do not flock, it is forbidden to feed the pigeons." The master said, "You must wait here, let me enter the Park." The dog barked once. "Good boy!" said the master, stroking the dog's head, whom instanly wagged his uncut-tail. Few moments, the master, rushed into the Park, and threw nuts. Not long after, came a lot of pigeons, flocking.A pigeon, coming to Mr Pit Bull, reminded, "Hey Mr Pit Bull! Why don't you remind your master, didn't he himself, put on the announcement, by the order of law? Look! The pigeons are gathering and littering the garden! There was a pregnant dove, fell down. A little pigeon, willing to go into the ditch, just to get a peanut."Without turning his head, Mr. Pit Bull calmly replied, "The pigeons, flocking 'till they entered the ditch, it was because of, my master's charisma!" As she flew, the dove cried out, "Oy you fool! The pigeons haven't been fed for days!"Not long after, the master came out of the Park, and approached Mr Pit Bull, who immediately wagged his tail. The master said as he threw a bone, "You, go home first!" The dog barked and catched it with his mouth, and immediately ran home.Hurrying home with his prize, he run as fast as he could go. As he crossed a narrow footbridge, he happened to look down and, saw himself reflected in the quiet water as if in a mirror. But the greedy Mr Pit Bull, thought, he saw a real Dog, carrying a bone much bigger than his own.If he had stopped to think, he would have known better. But instead of thinking, he dropped his bone and sprang at the Dog in the river, only to find himself swimming for dear life to reach the shore. At last, he managed to scramble out, and as he stood sadly thinking about the good bone he had lost, he realized, what a stupid Dog he had been."Professor Nightingale explained, "If you covet all, you may lose all. It is very foolish to be greedy. He that catches at more than belongs to him, justly deserved to lose what he has. Yet nothing is more common, at the same time, more pernicious, than this selfish principle. It prevails, from the king to the peasant; and all orders and degrees of men are, more or less, infected with it. Great monarchs have been drawn in, by their greed, to grasp at the dominions of their neighbours; not that they wanted anything more to feed their luxury, but to gratify their insatiable, appetite for vain-glory. If the kings of Persia could have been contented with their own vast territories, they had not lost all Asia for the sake of a little petty state of Greece. And France, with all its glory, had, ere now, been reduced to the last extremity, by the same unjust encroachments."Then, the propfessor concluded, "O my brothers and sisters! He that thinks, he sees another’s estate in a pack of cards, or a box and dice, and ventures his own in the pursuit of it, should not repine, if he finds himself, a beggar, in the end. And Allah knows best."
Citations and References :
- Dr. Aisha Utz, Psychology from the Islamic Perspective, IIPH- Samuel Croxall, D.D., Fables of Aesop and Others, Simon Probasco
- Sheikh 'Abd aI-Hamid Kishk, Dealing With Lust and Greed, Daral Taqwa, Ltd.
